Ronin's eyes swept across the arena floor, picking up every last trace of aura linked to Hisoka.
The Sharingan's razor-sharp perception, layered with Gyo, made him dead certain he wouldn't miss a single strand of the guy's aura on the ring.
He was convinced Hisoka could only bust out of the Water Prison from the outside.
The shuriken had already sliced through every Bungee Gum thread connecting Hisoka to the arena. So where the hell was his hidden trump card?
A sudden, unnatural twitch on the ring caught Ronin's attention instantly.
It was the referee.
The referee's body lurched forward, stumbling straight toward the water sphere like someone had yanked an invisible string.
From Ronin's view, there wasn't a speck of Bungee Gum on the man. He couldn't even spot any aura at all. So how was Hisoka pulling this off?
Even as the question hit him, Ronin's fist was already moving. He hammered a punch in the referee's direction.
The explosive shockwave shoved the referee farther away. That's when the Sharingan finally pierced the camouflage and revealed the aura underneath.
It had been hidden by a second layer of aura the whole time.
Texture Surprise.
Ronin recognized it immediately.
Back at Cemeta Tower, Hisoka had used the exact same trick to hide the damage on his fist.
Ronin had noticed it then, but he hadn't studied it closely. Now he saw how the ability could completely fool even the Sharingan's insight, masking Hisoka's aura entirely.
This level of disguise went way beyond regular In. In could be broken with Gyo, but even with Gyo active on his Sharingan, Ronin hadn't spotted it until the referee was forced backward and the camouflage slipped.
Using Bungee Gum to control the referee was slick too—though from the clumsy stumbling, Hisoka clearly sucked at fine manipulation. This wasn't real control; it was just a crude restriction, forcing the referee to stagger forward under the gum's pull.
What was the point?
A thought clicked in Ronin's head. The Sharingan's penetrating vision locked onto dozens of small stones scattered across the floor, each one tied to thin pink threads of aura.
The force from his earlier punch wind had sent those stones rolling farther away, stretching the Bungee Gum threads tight.
The next instant the taut stones shot forward like bullets, aimed roughly at Hisoka's position—and covering Ronin in their path.
Hisoka had started setting this trap the second they first clashed.
He'd probably meant it to catch Ronin off guard and open more windows for attack.
Instead it had accidentally become the perfect way to crack the Water Prison.
Susanoo flared up around Ronin, blocking every stone. At the same time the massive crimson skeletal hand reached straight for Hisoka inside the now-pierced water sphere.
But the moment Hisoka hit the ground he started backpedaling fast.
Ronin noticed that with every step—hand or foot touching the floor—Hisoka left fresh pink strands of Bungee Gum behind.
It was an off-body release. The aura probably wouldn't last long and would lose most of its power, but in a fight it was perfect harassment.
Ronin's left eye activated Amenotokotachi, locking the space where Hisoka was retreating. Susanoo's giant hand followed right behind.
Stones launched from the floor slammed into Susanoo's arm. They didn't even scratch it.
The retreating Hisoka suddenly felt a searing pain rip through his arm. Blood sprayed everywhere, but he saw nothing.
What the—?
His movements jerked to a stop. He swung a fist at Susanoo's massive hand.
All he got was a sickening crunch.
His arm shattered on impact. Even pouring everything he had into it, he could only stall the invisible blade for a split second—it wasn't enough to threaten the construct.
Hisoka's body stayed rooted in place, but a black magician's cloth—his signature prop—appeared in his other hand.
He flung it toward the wounded space around his arm. The cloth hovered in mid-air, flattening into a razor-sharp blade shape.
The black cloth dropped. The invisible "spatial blade" vanished. Hisoka flicked his fingers, caught the cloth, and instantly wrapped it over his broken arm.
The next second, something straight out of a magic show happened—his shattered arm was suddenly whole again, like nothing had ever touched it.
The entire arena had gone dead silent the moment Susanoo appeared. Now, as Hisoka's arm "healed," the crowd finally exhaled. A massive wave of cheers and shocked gasps exploded through Heaven's Arena while the commentator's hyped voice kicked in.
Ronin didn't rush to press the attack with Susanoo.
He was getting smoother and smoother with Amenotokotachi—moving from locking down whole areas, to partial space imprisonment, and now shaping the sealed space into specific invisible threats.
His mastery of the technique was leveling up fast.
The only real weakness was accuracy. Part of that was because he hadn't been trying to kill Hisoka outright this time, but he had aimed to slice the arm clean off. Instead he'd only landed a deep gash. The difference was huge.
He clearly needed more practice.
Training wasn't just about shaping the space—it was about nailing the exact position of the lock.
This space-time ability might be the strongest card he had.
Hisoka's face showed zero fear from the injury. If anything, he looked even more thrilled.
Even though he was clearly getting suppressed in a straight fight, this was exactly the kind of battle he lived for.
Ronin really was a more tempting fruit than Chrollo.
But how the hell was he supposed to win?
The guy had too many abilities, and every single one was bizarre as hell. It was impossible to predict what he'd pull next.
At his current level, it felt like no matter what he tried, beating Ronin would be damn near impossible.
Hisoka felt the sweet agony of a wonderful problem.